The liberals had a lot of help from people who call themselves conservatives. And don’t forget the moderates.
True liberals and conservatives are opposed to oligarchy. Neolibs, neocons and the assorted so-called "pragmatic" folks are the ones who inadvertently support oligarchy.
They're always crafting short-term solutions that appear to be reasonable compromises, but end up leading us down a path toward despotism.
Policies such as national school standards, welfare-to-work, social security, medicare, pro-active foreign policy, planned communities, public-private initiatives, etc.
All of these seemingly pragmatic programs ultimately lead to greater centralization and greater control by big government and big business.
The moderates, who are really just the apathetic, are just going along for the ride because most of us are still fortunate enough to be making a living.
Maybe the neolibs and neocons will craft a society which is merely annoying, but I'm not that optimistic.